The search for the real Mohamed Al-Fayed goes with him to the grave
, was one of Britain’s most controversial and polarising public figures. If you didn’t know him for Harrods and his bitter ownership battle with the tycoon Tiny Rowland, then you might for bringing down Tory MPs in the “cash for questions” row;with Princess Diana; or rescuing and turning around Fulham FC . He was many different things to a wide variety of people in a nuanced, multi-faceted fashion we no longer tolerate. Al-Fayed was either “dodgy and deluded” or “straight-talking and a saviour”.
An anti-establishment figure who never quite fitted in, despite endless attempts to do so, Al-Fayed did things that were “not cricket”. He named the MPs he had paid to ask questions about his lack of British citizenship. Conservative Ministers, Tim Smith and Neil Hamilton, later resigned over the affair. Proudly larger than life, he brazenly rode out every controversy. However, this cartoonish image would cost him. He never did get that passport.
We were experiencing Monday to Friday distribution difficulties with the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Al-Fayed’s solution was distribute in-store on Saturdays. When I queried the relevance of this, he chided me with a conspiratorial grin: “Stefaaahrno, we hire the most beautiful girls to distribute them – and you and I can choose them!” It was so appallingly outlandish. Was it a wind-up? The meeting ended early, leaving me feeling dirty by association.
Do such personal kindnesses make up for their perceived wider negative qualities? Can we accept that most people are flawed individuals?
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